Man, I've been terrible at this lately. I guess having a girlfriend is taking away all my blogging time. (That's right, I said it. I'm dating someone. If you want details, ask me. Don't ask on here as this isn't what I'm about to blog about...)
So... A couple days ago my girlfriend, her roommate and I all go out for the evening. We went to the University for an Opera Workshop. It was entitled The World Of Operetta. Essentially it was a collection of pieces from Operettas from various composers from around the world: English, German, French, and American. It was SO GOOD!!! But this isn't what I'm blogging about...
After the show, we went to Earls for a bite. We shared a pizza and then had desserts. I had ordered a ginger ale, which will come as no surprise to those who have eaten out with me in the past. (I love a good ginger ale!) Anyway, after the pizza was finished, I took another sip from my now nearly empty ginger ale. I noticed that I had sucked up a bit of ice through the straw, but that's nothing unusual. This one small sliver of ice, however, didn't seem to melt. In fact, it didn't even feel cold. I was about to crunch down on it, when I got the thought to pull it out of my mouth. Good thing! Turns out it wasn't ice at all. It was a small shard of broken glass!!! Of course I put it down and stopped drinking from the glass. Then it occurred to me... What if I had unwittingly swallowed some broken glass?!?! What do you do for that?!?! I sat there, nearly in shock at the mere thought, consumed by worry over the possibility that I could've just damaged my entire digestive system. As the waitress came by, I mentioned the problem. She took the shard to show the manager, and the pizza was comped, and a fresh ginger ale was supplied, which I carefully and hesitantly drank. I ordered my dessert, but ate only the ice cream, leaving the chocolate cake and toffee to be taken home and eaten at my leisure. (It still sits in my fridge awaiting its consumption.) As we nervously left, I felt a little nauseous, but purely due to my nerves. I eventually got my mind off of it, and I felt better.
The next day (Saturday) I hardly thought about it all day. I had breakfast. I went shopping. I had a greasy lunch when I did think about it; I figured I might as well lubricate the glass. I went grocery shopping and watched the fights. No stressing about it. I figured I must have been fine.
Then this morning as I got out of bed I realized that I felt a pain in my gut. At first I thought it was just my body deciding it didn't feel like getting up. But as I began to move around and wake myself up, the pain didn't subside. I'm not claiming that this pain had anything to do with any glass, but after a few minutes I started to wonder. I stayed at home most of the day and tried to get my mind off of it. The pain has mostly subsided, but there's still a definite discomfort. If it's not gone by tomorrow afternoon, I'm going to see a doctor. I'll keep you posted.
Oh, and if it turns out that I did swallow glass, I'm totally suing!
Showing posts with label dinner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dinner. Show all posts
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Friday, February 23, 2007
I feel sorta guilty, so I have to vent...
So I feel like I should be a restaurant reviewer today. This evening I went to dinner with some friends at East Side Mario's.
I arrive in the place at about 7:45pm and join my friends' table in the middle of the dinning room. I sit down and the waitress promptly asks me for my drink order. I ask for a ginger ale and continue my conversation with my friends. The drink arrives shortly and we ask for a couple minutes before we order food. I notice that the waitress seems to only be working two or three other tables, so we should be good for service. Boy was I wrong! So after sitting around for about 20 minutes, long enough for me to completely forget what the waitress even looked like, I finally noticed a waitress walk up to our table (again, in the middle of the dinning room), ready to take our order. I was really in the mood for a steak, and I figured I had brought lunch to work today, so I figured I could splurge. It just so happens that the steak (they only have one) is the most expensive thing on the menu. I order it anyway. Now those of you who have been to East Side Mario's should know that they give out free bread while you wait. Well, after the orders were finally taken, we waited a good 20 minutes and no bread. Finally one of the guys at our table knew one of the guys working there, and called him over to chat. While he was at the table, I asked him if we could have some bread. He brought it over quickly. We munched on the bread for about another 20 minutes. (Let's do some quick math here: 20 minutes to order + 20 minutes to get bread + 20 minutes eating bread = 1 hour of wasted time.) Anyway, it occurs to me, through all of this, that the soup for my meal still hasn't arrived. The waitress finally starts to bring out the food, and I mention that I still hadn't gotten my soup. Without a word of apology, she mentions that she forgot, and that she'd bring it right out. So here I am with my steak dinner, with pasta on the side, AND a bowl of soup in front of me at the same time. All this, remember, after ordering the most expensive dish on the menu. Needless to say, I was NOT impressed. If only that was the end of the bad service. However, after a few bites I realize that my ginger ale has been empty for the best part of an hour. I look around and can't see a waitress anywhere. I wait a minute, and see her walk by to help one of her other tables, I see her look at my empty glass and walk right back by. Maybe she didn't see that it was empty, so I move it to the corner of the table to make it obvious. Again I see her walk right by and look at the glass, yet nothing. A few more minutes and she's off in the corner talking with some co-workers. I look intently at her with my glass in my hand and wait for her to glance over. Finally she looks over and walks over, after first walking into the kitchen for a few seconds. She forgot what my drink was (no surprise after an hour), and I had to tell her that I had ginger ale. I think she thought I was drinking water, and so I could just refill with the pitcher at the table. Anyway, as you might be able to tell, I was NOT the happiest customer today. She brought our bills, and mine came out to $22.66. Not I should note that I'm generally a very generous tipper. With good service I might even leave $30 at the table for that bill. At least $26 or $27. I left $23 even, only because I didn't want to wait another 20 minutes to have her come by so I could get change. I don't expect to have someone pay more attention to me just because I ordered the highest price entree they offer, but I do expect decent service for everyone, and perhaps a little more awareness of the service offered when one DOES order the highest priced entree.
Anyway, I generally like to leave decent tips, and I feel a little guilty about leaving a mere 34 cents, and so I had to vent.
I arrive in the place at about 7:45pm and join my friends' table in the middle of the dinning room. I sit down and the waitress promptly asks me for my drink order. I ask for a ginger ale and continue my conversation with my friends. The drink arrives shortly and we ask for a couple minutes before we order food. I notice that the waitress seems to only be working two or three other tables, so we should be good for service. Boy was I wrong! So after sitting around for about 20 minutes, long enough for me to completely forget what the waitress even looked like, I finally noticed a waitress walk up to our table (again, in the middle of the dinning room), ready to take our order. I was really in the mood for a steak, and I figured I had brought lunch to work today, so I figured I could splurge. It just so happens that the steak (they only have one) is the most expensive thing on the menu. I order it anyway. Now those of you who have been to East Side Mario's should know that they give out free bread while you wait. Well, after the orders were finally taken, we waited a good 20 minutes and no bread. Finally one of the guys at our table knew one of the guys working there, and called him over to chat. While he was at the table, I asked him if we could have some bread. He brought it over quickly. We munched on the bread for about another 20 minutes. (Let's do some quick math here: 20 minutes to order + 20 minutes to get bread + 20 minutes eating bread = 1 hour of wasted time.) Anyway, it occurs to me, through all of this, that the soup for my meal still hasn't arrived. The waitress finally starts to bring out the food, and I mention that I still hadn't gotten my soup. Without a word of apology, she mentions that she forgot, and that she'd bring it right out. So here I am with my steak dinner, with pasta on the side, AND a bowl of soup in front of me at the same time. All this, remember, after ordering the most expensive dish on the menu. Needless to say, I was NOT impressed. If only that was the end of the bad service. However, after a few bites I realize that my ginger ale has been empty for the best part of an hour. I look around and can't see a waitress anywhere. I wait a minute, and see her walk by to help one of her other tables, I see her look at my empty glass and walk right back by. Maybe she didn't see that it was empty, so I move it to the corner of the table to make it obvious. Again I see her walk right by and look at the glass, yet nothing. A few more minutes and she's off in the corner talking with some co-workers. I look intently at her with my glass in my hand and wait for her to glance over. Finally she looks over and walks over, after first walking into the kitchen for a few seconds. She forgot what my drink was (no surprise after an hour), and I had to tell her that I had ginger ale. I think she thought I was drinking water, and so I could just refill with the pitcher at the table. Anyway, as you might be able to tell, I was NOT the happiest customer today. She brought our bills, and mine came out to $22.66. Not I should note that I'm generally a very generous tipper. With good service I might even leave $30 at the table for that bill. At least $26 or $27. I left $23 even, only because I didn't want to wait another 20 minutes to have her come by so I could get change. I don't expect to have someone pay more attention to me just because I ordered the highest price entree they offer, but I do expect decent service for everyone, and perhaps a little more awareness of the service offered when one DOES order the highest priced entree.
Anyway, I generally like to leave decent tips, and I feel a little guilty about leaving a mere 34 cents, and so I had to vent.
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